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The Family Men

When you're born into a dynasty of champions, any sin will be forgiven so long as you maintain the winning streak. But what if that's not the life you want?

Harry's success as a footballer is predestined, the territory that comes with a superstar father, and all the Club asks in return is loyalty and the occasional code of silence. But when his home-town media scrum dredges up an old scandal of his father's, and Harry becomes embroiled in one of his own, he starts to question the reality behind the glittering facade of the trophies he wins and the pretty young things who mob him.

With piercing insight, The Family Men subverts the usual choices between winning and losing, guilt and innocence, courage and cowardice. Is true honour to be found in forging your own path or staying loyal to your pack?

Book club notes

About the author

Catherine Harris’s short story collection, Like Being A Wife, was shortlisted for the 2011 Age Fiction Prize, the 2011 Barbara Jefferis award and as a manuscript for the 2009 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. She won the 2009 Josephine …

Specifications

Specifications

Release date: 31 Aug 2014

RRP: $29.99

Paperback ISBN: 9781863956833

eISBN: 9781922231666

Imprint: Black Inc.

Format: PB

Size: 234 x 153mm

Extent: 288pp

Praise for The Family Men

‘The Family Men is an intense distillation of the darkness that falls after the Friday and Saturday night lights have been turned out. This novel is shocking because it is so believable. Sometimes you hear football insiders mutter about a scandal in the game, 'It's worse than you think.' Catherine Harris has cut right through to that shadowy truth, and come back with horror, yes, but also a sign of hope.’ ­—Malcolm Knox

‘Catherine Harris’ timely novel on football culture after dark [kept me up late] – and you don’t even have to like footy to read it.’ —Books of the Year, the Age

‘A compelling look at the intersection between the media and sporting celebrity in Australia.’ —Wheeler Centre, Best Books of 2014

‘Revealing spotlight on football’s dark side… The Family Men [is] compelling and provocative reading.’ —Herald Sun

‘Slick, brutal and evasive where it needs to be. The novel builds like a slow striptease.’ —Spectrum

‘Sex, alcohol and the AFL. The three often come together in an unholy trinity and Catherine Harris’ novel explores such a combination to devastating effect.’ —the Age

‘Regardless of your interest in sport, The Family Men is a starkly brilliant and uniquely Australian novel that stays with you long after reading.’ —Readings Monthly

‘The Family Men unfolds like a slow-motion car crash… [It] is a nuanced indictment of a sporting culture that forgives appalling behavior in our heroes, and it is as ‘true’ as the best journalism.’ —Bookseller & Publisher